


Wicked Feleena

by convolutedConcussion



Series: Wandering [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Hitchhiking, Kanaya One Day Someone's Gonna Hurt You, Random Acts Of Kindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-24 19:03:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/convolutedConcussion/pseuds/convolutedConcussion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Where are you heading?" she asks easily.  She's got some lost Victorian elegance to her.  Her clothes are dark and just this side of glamourously gothic.</i></p><p><i>You take a moment to consider the question.  "El Paso, I guess."</i></p><p><i>"El Paso, you guess?" she repeats.</i></p><p>Sequel to "Never Trust A Hitchhiker"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wicked Feleena

She took your wallet. She took your leather jacket. It seems as if the only things she didn't take were the towels. You yank on your clothes from the day before, you tuck her note in your pocket, and you leave before you decide to break something. Your steps are hard and jarring on the pavement and you walk with a single-minded intensity. It takes you nearly a quarter of an hour for you to get back on the interstate. With very little else you feel you can do, you head for El Paso.

It's not like you have any friends to give you a hand in this case.

You walk for hours. Your legs grow weary, your lungs burn, your back aches from being so rigidly straight. Only a few cars pass you. The people in them stare but don't attempt to help. Not that you blame them. You don't strike a very disarming figure, do you? Eventually, you grow too weary to go on and you sit heavily on a guard rail. You watch a black SUV with heavily tinted windows approach and you dismiss it before it slows before you. Frowning, you stand on tired feet and walk on legs that feel like they're vibrating to the window that's beginning to slide downward. In the driver's seat is a tall, very pale girl who is perhaps older than you. Her sleek black hair is cropped short, looking hacky, almost as if she lost a fight with a lawnmower. That's not necessarily a bad thing--she certainly pulls it off--it's just a fact. She's got the most vibrantly green eyes you've ever seen and they hold you captive. "Do you need a ride?" she asks. Her voice is gentle, placid. She seems like the kind of person you'd usually try to get a rise out of because she exudes patience and calmness.

You have to try a few times to answer her. "Yeah," you say hoarsely, your throat quite dry. She unlocks the doors and you climb in, trying to remember the last time you were in a car. As you buckle up, she starts driving.

She tosses out a casual, "There's water in the cooler behind your seat if you want some."

As it turns out, you do want some. You twist in your seat to reach into the cooler and pull out a bottle of icy water. You finish more than half the bottle before taking a breath. This leads to some small embarrassment, but nothing too remarkable. She's got a small smile in place as you screw the cap back on and place it into the cupholder.

"Where are you heading?" she asks easily. She's got some lost Victorian elegance to her. Her clothes are dark and just this side of glamourously gothic.

You take a moment to consider the question. "El Paso, I guess."

"El Paso, you guess?" she repeats.

"Someone took something from me and last I heard she was going to El Paso. So I guess I'm going to El Paso." Your tone is dull. You're tired and would like nothing more than to crawl into the back seat and sleep.

She hums something before saying, "Interesting. Well, as I'm on my way there to convince my girlfriend to stop being so foolish, I don't see why you can't join me the whole way."

You regard her dubiously. "You don't know me. I could slaughter you in your sleep. I could steal your stuff and hock it," you say pointedly.

Her smile is just a little unpleasant as she says, "Oh, I can take care of myself just fine, do not worry yourself."

\---

The only stops she makes are to gas up and to buy some fast food. She surprises you by ordering a Big Mac with a large order of fries. You just get chicken strips. She drives steadily, speaking only rarely. You learn her name is Kanaya. The radio plays softly, the gentle tones of string instruments wafting over you.

When you yawn, sated and bone-weary, she says, "We can change the station, if this is too boring for you. Or... you could sleep if you like." Her tone is very gentle, almost lulling you to sleep on the spot.

"No, I'm good," you reply quickly, sitting up in your seat even though your eye feels heavy. "So what's your girlfriend doing that's so foolish that you have to drive all the way to El Paso to set her straight?"

Kanaya's smile is very gentle, wistful, and a little sad. "She is grieving. People overcome with grief do foolish things. It is often the charge of the loved ones of the mourning to, as you put it, set them straight." She frowns, as if unsure whether or not she ought to be telling you this. "Her mother very recently died. They did not... have the best relationship," she says cautiously.

You can relate at least to that. You used to call your mother the Spider Lady. Which is perhaps why so many had taken to calling you Spiderbitch. "And what's El Paso got to do with all this?"

"Her brother and his boyfriend live there. I believe she is going there because it is a safe distance away from where we live, where she has lived most of her life, and where her mother has been put to rest. I believe she is running from her memories," she says, her voice dipping. "But like I said, people do strange things when they are grieving."

You lapse into silence. Then, "I don't get what you think you can do 'bout it, though."

She looks at you strangely before saying, "I usually know what I need to do when the moment arises." She sighs and her straight spine bows a bit before she sits up again. "What do you plan on doing when you reach El Paso? Go door-to-door looking for the thief?"

"I--" you pause, blinking a few times. "I'm not sure."

"I cannot speak for the boys but I do not see why it would be a problem if you stayed with us for a night or two. We will see, will we not?" The offer is far more generous than you've had reason to expect from anyone and for a long time you simply remain silent. You want to ask, petulant like a child, why she was helping you but, as if anticipating you, she pops in a CD. The music swells and you don't recognize the tune. It's something classical, you presume. You never had a taste for it, but this is soothing and you find yourself yawning once more. "Sleep, we will arrive by morning, I think."

\---

When you next awaken, it's because you've stopped. Blearily, you rub your eyes and look around. You're parked in the dingy lot of a gas station and the sun's rays are barely touching the horizon. At last you catch site of her, stepping out of the store with a drink-carrier suspended in one hand while the other has what is presumably a cell phone planted firmly against her ear. She's got the lightest frown creasing her forehead as she speaks. Her expression smooths, though, and she smiles easily and says something while nodding her head before flipping the phone shut and making her way to the driver's seat.

"Good morning!" she greets cheerily. She certainly doesn't seem like someone who's been driving all night. "Coffee?" She hands you one of the cups in her carrier and you take an eager sip.

"Good news?" you ask, sleepily pantomiming holding a phone against your ear.

That earns you a soft laugh and she says, "Ah, well, I have never been to El Paso, so someone's meeting us and leading the way." As she starts driving again, you lapse into silence, both intent on your coffee.

Your eyes turn to the window as you watch the effects of the sunrise. She's tense and weary at your side and you feel her stress increase as her journey comes to a close. The sun is fully up and at your back when she pulls into a restaurant parking lot. For a moment, she lets the car idle. You peer at the restaurant and find it to be rather like a Waffle House.

"It may be some time until he can leave, you can come in with me to wait if you like," she invites, hiding a yawn behind a delicate hand.

You get out of the car and stretch, your back popping loudly. Your legs tingle from the sudden movement. She walks by your side but surges forward a little to open the door for you. You feel yourself frown but instead you laugh and walk in.

Almost as soon as the door closes behind the two of you, you hear a crash, and then a shout of, "Kan!"

A blur of blue eyes and black hair and goofy teeth rushes past you and leaps on Kanaya, who doesn't exactly look surprised by such a scene. The boy who pulls back isn't as tall as her. His hair is a mess, his glasses askew, and yet there's something about the way he smiles at her that is endearing. He's like a devoted little puppy.

"Hello, John," she says sedately, her smile calm but affectionate. "Where is Dave?"

His grin fades just a little. "Oh, he's at his brother's. He and, uh, he and Rose got into a big, big argument last night," he whispers so low that you barely catch it. You try not to let the name Rose give you a heart attack. "He said he'd be back tonight..." He bites his lip and gives Kanaya a pleading look. Then he seems to notice you. "Oh! Hi! I'm John," he says, back to his giddy excitement.

You shake his hand and introduce yourself but before long his attention is back on Kanaya.

"How much longer do you have to work?" she asks him, looking around with a cautious eye.

"Oh, just a half-hour. You can sit! Are you hungry? I'll get you some coffee and menus!" he cries, darting back into the kitchen.

You take a sidelong glance at her and smirk. "Eager to please, isn't he?"

"John is a very nice young man and tends to kill with kindness, and overdo it a tad when he's upset," she explains, leading you to a booth and sitting down. She rubs her eyes and looks, for a moment, very old and tired. Then she smiles and she's young and beautiful yet again. "So, are you hungry?" she asks as John sets two menus, two cups, and a pot of coffee onto the table. Instead of waiting for you to answer, she turns her attention to the boy. "Did you make the pie last night?"

"Yeah! I made it myself. The key lime is really good, yanno, if I do say so myself," he boasts, goober teeth still worrying his lower lip.

"I want a slice of that, then," she says with a kind smile.

"D'you want anything?" he asks you, smiling widely.

You look down at the menu thoughtfully. "Uh, biscuits and gravy, I guess," you say uncertainly.

\---

After breakfast, John clambers into the back of Kanaya's SUV and gives her eager directions to their apartment building. It's tall and dingy and the lot is half-full of cars that you can hardly believe even run. He's the first to hop out, excited, it would seem, to show Kanaya and her "new friend" the new apartment. From the way he speaks, you gather that the previous one was worse. Inside, the lobby and elevator are cleaner than you'd had reason to expect. He lives on the top floor and with each passing floor you feel more and more like an intruder as Kanaya and John rattle on about mutual acquaintances. He leads you to the door of his apartment and digs in his pockets before groaning and saying, "Gosh, guys, I'm sorry! I think Dave has my keys!"

Kanaya smiles indulgently and knocks on the door in a sharp, businesslike manner.

To her eternal credit, Rose doesn't bat an eye when her gaze skims over you. Her attention locks on Kanaya and there's that spark, that heat that you only got a hint of that one night. She stand's on tip-toe to kiss the other girl on the lips. When she speaks, it's to both of you. "I didn't expect you."

**Author's Note:**

> The title is in reference to Feleena (From El Paso), the Marty Robbins song.


End file.
